Who defends the Supreme Court? The answer: A lawyer who knows the Constitution.

Lawyer David Rivkin went on the defense today in The Wall Street Journal, protecting the citizen rights of Supreme Court Justices “to participate in the greater society on which their decisions often have a profound impact.”

Rivkin’s timely defense comes on the day of the president’s State of the Union speech, an increasingly partisan pep rally which generated headlines last year when Justice Ailito shook his head in disagreement to the president’s claims that the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) case, in which the highest court ruled “limits on corporate spending unconnected to any candidate’s campaign were unconstitutional,” was bad for America.

The court has not announced which justices are appearing, but Ailito was scheduled to speak at the law school at the University of Hawaii, and Scalia and Thomas rarely attend. That leaves Chief Justice Roberts, as well as Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan to attend. Attendance by justices varies by year, but this year we are likely to see mostly Democrat-appointed justices before the Democrat president.

Rivkin and Lee Casey’s piece, “Common Cause v. Scalia and Thomas,” specifically condemns the liberal lobbying group, Common Cause, which has called for an investigation regarding Thomas and Scalia for alleged ethical lapses for attending “invitation-only” programs held by the Koch Family, owners of Koch Industries, which supports free market and libertarian causes.

Rivkin debunks the group’s claims, noting that the justices were guests of The Federalist Society (which sponsors public debate) and appeared only to speak at a dinner and did not attend the conference. He accuses Common Cause of attempting to “intimidate conservative judges, academics and activists” as well as overturn the Citizens United case.

Scalia’s recent appearance at a meeting organized by the House Tea Party caucus and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has also provoked liberals who see the high court as becoming more openly biased.

Who can blame any justice for not attending SOTU with the media and liberal lobbying groups targeting them with uninformed smear campaigns?